Third Culprit: The Annual Anthology of the Crime Writer's Association

This third annual anthology from the Crime Writers' Association celebrates nothing but good crime writing. Most of the stories are original, but some are reprints from magazines-Ruth Rendell's 1980 ``A Needle for the Devil,'' for instance, which has a sadistic nurse fall under spells of love and knitting, much to the displeasure of her husband, who doesn't care for the sound of her clicking #14 needles. In a new story, ``Someone Got to Eddie,'' Scots author Ian Rankin abandons his Edinburgh copper John Rebus for a dark moment with an informer and the man who has come to end his squealing days. The Best of Breed award goes to Donald Westlake for his 1989 tale, ``Too Many Crooks,'' in which master thief Dortmunder tunnels into the back of a bank at the precise moment that other, less skilled criminals are in the front of the bank, negotiating a tense hostage situation with nervous cops; Dortmunder must perform some tricky improvisation to keep the loot. Also on hand are cartoons, a difficult acrostic and tales by Frances Fyfield, H.R.F. Keating and editor Lewin, among others. (Jan.)